Barack & Michelle Obama Speak Out After Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action In College Admissions

On Thursday, the Supreme Court voted in a 6-3 conservative majority, with the ruling prohibiting universities from considering race as a factor in admissions. The six justices who voted to reject affirmative action policies in higher education admissions declared that the race-based programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

The ruling overturns over a 40-year precedent, as institutions began implementing affirmative action policies in admissions in the late '60s to diversify schools. While conservatives celebrated Thursday's decision, it's considered a huge loss for liberals and major setback for civil rights, with many -- including Barack and Michelle Obama -- speaking out against the ruling on social media.

Michelle, 59, posted a lengthy statement on her social media, sharing how affirmative action impacted her own college experience.

"Back in college, I was one of the few Black students on my campus, and I was proud of getting into such a respected school," she wrote. "I knew I'd worked hard for it. But still, I sometimes wondered if people thought I got there because of affirmative action. It was a shadow that students like me couldn’t shake, whether those doubts came from the outside or inside our own minds."

"But the fact is this: I belonged. And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged, too. It wasn't just the kids of color who benefitted, either," she continued. "Every student who heard a perspective they might not have encountered, who had an assumption challenged, who had their minds and their hearts opened gained a lot as well. It wasn't perfect, but there's no doubt that it helped offer new ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb."

Michelle went on to list ways other students are "granted special consideration," including legacy admissions, athletics and coming from wealthy families to afford standardized test prep tutors. However, she noted that "we don't usually question if those students belong."

The author added, "So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level."

Michelle ended her statement by expressing her sadness over the Court's ruling, and what it may mean for students who benefitted from affirmative action moving forward.

"So today, my heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holds -- and what kinds of chances will be open to them," she wrote. "And while I know the strength and grit that lies inside kids who have always had to sweat a little more to climb the same ladders, I hope and I pray that the rest of us are willing to sweat a little, too."

She concluded, "Today is a reminder that we've got to do the work not just to enact policies that reflect our values of equity and fairness, but to truly make those values real in all of our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods."

Barack, meanwhile, shared a statement that read: "Like any policy, affirmative action wasn't perfect. But it allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now it's up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve  --  and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives."

He also retweeted Michelle's statement on his Twitter, before voicing more thoughts.

"Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society," he wrote. "But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of America's key institutions -- it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision, it’s time to redouble our efforts."

Meanwhile, The View addressed the ruling on Thursday's episode, with Whoopi Goldberg slamming Republican-pointed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the two African-American judges on the Supreme Court, in particular.

"He doesn't know what diversity is. That's what he said, and so he doesn't get it," Goldberg said. "Well, let me pose this question to you, Justice Thomas: Could your mother and father vote in this country? Because had the 14th Amendment actually had us on equal footing, they would've been able to vote. And you know why that changed? Because people got out and made a change. If we didn't have to, no one would do it."

"Who wants to get hit by water from a water hose? Nobody!" she added, getting heated. "But that's what people did in order to get the vote. So when you say you don’t know what diversity is, I say you're full of it."

After Goldberg started the conversation during the Hot Topics segment, she stressed why affirmative action was necessary to begin with.

"The 14th Amendment is supposed to promise equal protection, but if everyone was actually treated equally, we wouldn't have had to put in affirmative action," she said. "People wouldn’t have had to march, and begged, and gotten hosed, and all of these things that people did to just balance us out with everything else going on in the country."

See what the other panelists -- including conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin -- had to say about the Supreme Court's decision in the clip, above.

Meanwhile, The View co-host Ana Navarro -- who didn't appear on Thursday's episode -- reacted to the ruling on Twitter, writing, "I'm amazed by some mediocre at best people, who've benefited from affirmative action, speaking against it. No self-awareness or gratitude. None."